US administration refuses invitation to monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to observe mid-term elections.
Such monitors have observed elections in the US and elsewhere for over 20 years. Only countries to refuse them before: Russia and Belarus.
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This is why God invented irony.. to keep us entertained while civilization collapses. There is something almost poetic about a bar blaming an asylum hotel for its downfall while quietly sidestepping who the crowd was that it welcomed through its doors each week.
The establishment was minding it’s own businees then one day, the hotel next door starts taking in asylum seekers. You know, people who've fled wars, persecution, that sort of annoying thing. And the restaurant owner says business started to suffer. Terrible shame, he says. These asylum seekers, creating all this... *tension*.
I wondered what kind of tension these asylum seekers created. Did they stand outside the bar juggling scimitars? Did they practice their pickpocketing skills during the lunch rush?
Nope. Turns out they mostly keep to themselves. Quiet as church mice, if church mice had PTSD and were waiting to find out if they'd be sent back to a war zone.
But do you know what else happened every week, quite soon after that? The "Patriots" arrived on coaches with endless Chinese-made Union flags, Israeli flags and flags that said "Kill them all and let God sort them out". And megaphones. And an impressive capacity for lager.
And where do you think these patriots went for their pre-protest lager?
[Pause for dramatic effect]
That's right. The bar next door.
So here's the bar owner, gleefully serving drinks to a crowd who then march next door to scream at traumatized families through their bedroom windows. A nice little earner, I think they call it. One time, one of these defenders of British values threw a lit flare through one of tge windows. Because nothing says "we're the civilized ones" like attempted arson.
And after months of this.. police cordons, and counter protestors forced to stand on the other side of the road (while the patriots were allowed to occupy the hotel forecourt) .. their regular customers stopped coming. Not just on protest day. Every day. Because they knew th…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sinjfrf4sazmpfhd4svmglgo/bafkreifvvtxrcyvv7u42rjuq25qipfneupuiwwti3pjn5u4rcfbyfebn7a)
![Text only
Note this is for all the text only photos
This is why God invented irony.. to keep us entertained while civilization collapses. There is something almost poetic about a bar blaming an asylum hotel for its downfall while quietly sidestepping who the crowd was that it welcomed through its doors each week.
The establishment was minding it’s own businees then one day, the hotel next door starts taking in asylum seekers. You know, people who've fled wars, persecution, that sort of annoying thing. And the restaurant owner says business started to suffer. Terrible shame, he says. These asylum seekers, creating all this... *tension*.
I wondered what kind of tension these asylum seekers created. Did they stand outside the bar juggling scimitars? Did they practice their pickpocketing skills during the lunch rush?
Nope. Turns out they mostly keep to themselves. Quiet as church mice, if church mice had PTSD and were waiting to find out if they'd be sent back to a war zone.
But do you know what else happened every week, quite soon after that? The "Patriots" arrived on coaches with endless Chinese-made Union flags, Israeli flags and flags that said "Kill them all and let God sort them out". And megaphones. And an impressive capacity for lager.
And where do you think these patriots went for their pre-protest lager?
[Pause for dramatic effect]
That's right. The bar next door.
So here's the bar owner, gleefully serving drinks to a crowd who then march next door to scream at traumatized families through their bedroom windows. A nice little earner, I think they call it. One time, one of these defenders of British values threw a lit flare through one of tge windows. Because nothing says "we're the civilized ones" like attempted arson.
And after months of this.. police cordons, and counter protestors forced to stand on the other side of the road (while the patriots were allowed to occupy the hotel forecourt) .. their regular customers stopped coming. Not just on pr…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sinjfrf4sazmpfhd4svmglgo/bafkreihzos67wcwu6qedjtf5qz3dc2eiyfllaxa2cit7cectckziruohii)
![Text only
Note this is the same for all 3 text only photos
This is why God invented irony.. to keep us entertained while civilization collapses. There is something almost poetic about a bar blaming an asylum hotel for its downfall while quietly sidestepping who the crowd was that it welcomed through its doors each week.
The establishment was minding it’s own businees then one day, the hotel next door starts taking in asylum seekers. You know, people who've fled wars, persecution, that sort of annoying thing. And the restaurant owner says business started to suffer. Terrible shame, he says. These asylum seekers, creating all this... *tension*.
I wondered what kind of tension these asylum seekers created. Did they stand outside the bar juggling scimitars? Did they practice their pickpocketing skills during the lunch rush?
Nope. Turns out they mostly keep to themselves. Quiet as church mice, if church mice had PTSD and were waiting to find out if they'd be sent back to a war zone.
But do you know what else happened every week, quite soon after that? The "Patriots" arrived on coaches with endless Chinese-made Union flags, Israeli flags and flags that said "Kill them all and let God sort them out". And megaphones. And an impressive capacity for lager.
And where do you think these patriots went for their pre-protest lager?
[Pause for dramatic effect]
That's right. The bar next door.
So here's the bar owner, gleefully serving drinks to a crowd who then march next door to scream at traumatized families through their bedroom windows. A nice little earner, I think they call it. One time, one of these defenders of British values threw a lit flare through one of tge windows. Because nothing says "we're the civilized ones" like attempted arson.
And after months of this.. police cordons, and counter protestors forced to stand on the other side of the road (while the patriots were allowed to occupy the hotel forecourt) .. their regular customers stopped coming. Not jus…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sinjfrf4sazmpfhd4svmglgo/bafkreiedoabwjimsf4rzhpj46hj2urbd7ryxctxd76idepedna2u7gcjz4)
